I need a new river boat!!!

[Snake River King]

What do you guys think of this setup.

1.) A 2009 Alumacraft VB 1650 AW tunnel jon boat

2.) A 2009 Yamaha 40hp jet drive outboard tiller model

3.) shorelander roller trailer

I run on the snake river by mora and pine city area. There are spots in the river as shallow as 6 inches deep all the way up to 15 feet deep in areas. There is a mix of sand and rocks and with in weeds in the back water.

One of the big problems Im thinking is my landing area is only 3-4 inches deep with deep mud and right now I have a 14ft jon with a 8 hp engine and in the dog days of summer when the water is low, when I load my 14 foot jon the back end sticks in the mud. So Im thinking if I got the 1650 jon boat with the 40hp jet drive and a jack plate to keep the motor out of the mud when I load it.

So I need your guys opinion? Do you think I will be fine loading it? How fast do you think this set up will be? How would a jet drive go as far as boat control?

Thanks SRK

[Ray Esboldt]

SRK,

Why not just use the Little Walleye access between Grasston and Pokegama on the Snake. It's not a bad access, but I am not real fond of leaving my truck there even with nothing in it.

The only thing I can think of being an issue on the Snake is weeds. I am not a jet expert, but I know they are the death of many jets. However, the weeds don't typically grow in the faster water.

I would say the tunnel hull with an outboard jacked up as high as it can go would be just as good there. You need the water intake sucking water so you might have a little more in the water than a jet, but there really aren't that many rocks in the Snake. A little sand will just polish the skeg.

[Snake River King]

I would use Little Walleye access, but I live right on the river and its so much easier to just use the 4 wheeler rather than get in the truck and drive 5 miles down the road to get to Little Walleye.

I also was wondering on how a regular outboard on a tunnel ram would do, cuz its like 2 grand less for a regular compared to a jet drive, and the area I fish at there are some spots where there are rocks about the size of a fist, and long stretches of sand bars that are 9- 12 inches deep.

The idea is to have a boat where I can go all out and fly over the rocks and sand bars and not have to pray that I dont hit anything, but I dont want to have to go slow ether, I like speed!!!

[dudewheresmyboat]

how about a surface drive?? They are spendy though....

[wastewaterguru]

I think the outboard tunnel with a prop would not only save you the cost of the lower unit.....but since the jet is derated to a 30 HP anyway.....now you just get a 30 HP prop. Make sure you get one with electric tilt/trim and mount it in the proper location in the tunnel. When you get to really, really shallow areas (like less than 9 inches) then you can trim the motor up a little and stay on plane.

I would strongly recommend a "true" flat-bottom versus a modified-v for this application. The 1650 mentioned above is a modified V. A Mod-V boat reacts differently when you trim up the motor. With a V bow, the bow comes up significantly when the motor is trimmed up.....this drops the back end of the boat and actually makes you run deeper. It also causes the boat to drop off plane before it would with a flatbottom.

A flat bottom with no v in the front will stay flat at slow speeds even with the motor trimmed and even slightly tilted.

I would also look at a 1660 or a 1654 versus a 1650. The extra inches of width will gain you additional shallow water capability.

[Snake River King]

Thank for the advice guys, I don't think alumacraft makes a 1660 or a 1654? I have a 2008 catalog of them and the VB 1650 AW Tunnel said its a flat-v tunnel and they have a MV 1650 AW and that boat is a Modified-V Hull, but that boat is not a tunnel.

I can buy as a option Sponsons, "Sponsons increase aft buoyancy on tunnel hull models for running in skinny water."

Do you think that would help out?

[dan z]

I use a long tail mud motor and it works great for the river. the motor is made in marble rock iowa and are a lil cheaper than the tru mud motors made by beaver tail. the company is called scavenger backwater motors they have a web site maybe you should check them out...

[Snake River King]

Is there any other jon boats in a different brand that would be better?

[dan z]

beaver tail or gator trax would be other choices...

[DTro]

Well, you could always go with a River Pro too

Whatever configuration you decide to go with there will be some quirks.

Just going to a wider boat alone will keep the stern up higher and like WWG said, a true flat bottom is a good option and will keep you running in very litte water, however you sacrifice in that it will be a rougher ride.

You will lose some hp with the jet foot, and it will be quite a bit louder too.

I think with a tunnel hull and jack plate, you could get away with a prop.

[marine_man]

I know Wiskers was pretty pumped about this rig:

New Tunnel Jet Boat

marine_man

[wastewaterguru]

I would look at other manufacturers like Lowe, SeaArk, Allweld, Tracker, Beavertail, etc.

There are dozens of smaller companies in the south that do custom flatbottoms as well. Most manufacturers only offer the true flat bottoms up to 16 feet. Most of the nicer wide open welded jons are all modified vees.

I was looking at the 1652MVT or 1660MVT from SeaArk before I I decided on buying a used RiverPro this winter.

BeaverTail makes some very nice jon boats as well. I didn't see a outboard tunnel option on their HSOforum, but it would be worth a phone call to them to find out if they offer it.

[Barbelboy]

SNK,

I fish the same stretch. I use a 16' crestliner with a 50 merc. Sometimes I have to get out and drag the boat across shallow sand. (south of the bears ear, ect.) Annoying, but it works. Think of all of the pontoon boats that go up and down that stretch all year long. Go with the tunnel hull. It will work just fine. But......as you mentioned speed, Dtro is right. The riverpro is the way to go. My dad and I fish some of the same river stretches as the guys with rpros. Man those are awesome boats.

[Snake River King]

I looked into the SeaArk boats, there is a dealer in Wisconsin that has them and they make a awesome tunnel jon boat, I still haven't gotten a price yet tho on the boat. I got a prices on ether a 2007 evinrude etec 40 for $4950 or a 2007 Yamaha 40hp for $5195..... What do you guys think would be a better motor? The weight of the etec was 240 lbs and the weight of the yammi was 183 lbs...... Which actually surprised me, I thought the etec would be lighter.

Barbelboy, I think I saw you on the river one day last summer... I was just above little walleye in a 17 bass tracker bass boat with a 45 hp

[wakeguy]

You will also lose some speed with a jet engine because you can't trim it like you can a prop. I drove an 18' Crestliner with a 60hp merc jet this year at the dealer meeting. It was a blast to drive but in open water I got really wet because as soon as I tried to trim the engine it would "blow out". With a prop I could have gained 8-10mph but there is virtually no high speed trim with a jet engine.

[Ray Esboldt]

SRK,

My father in law has a 40 E-Tec. He loves it, but doesn't have that many hours on it to be much of a judge for it's durability. My dad also has a 40 E-Tec on his 'toon. It's a nice motor, but I wouldn't rave about it. My thought is that if you save 60 pounds the $250 dollar bump in price my be worth it.

Yamaha makes a great motor. Not many people are going to argue that.

Keep us up to date on this. Or at least keep me up to date on it. I want to see this rig this summer if you make a purchase. I've been beating a similar decision around for a year now.

[Snake River King]

Well Ive been doing alot of research on tunnel boats and I think Im going to go with the Alumacraft or if the Guy from SeaArk ever decides to get back to me, maybe a SEAark..... I think Im going to put a 40 hp etec on it as well..... or maybe a yammi.... Who do you think has a better tiller handel, Yamaha or Evinrude?

[marine_man]

Yamaha... hands down...

marine_man

[primetime49]

I have had 2 sea arks with 20 foot and Yamaha 115 jets

indistructable

popping up and down on ice backing up and ramming it to gain a few feet

after several years of hard beating sold one to a guy in Alaska and he still cant break it

i have a removable cab on mine

they are loud

they do have trim

two stroke to lighten is way to go

[ec30_06]

If you do get a jet I would stay away from tunnels. If you do get a jet and tunnel make sure it is a jet tunnel.

[Snake River King]

Is there a really big difference? I know there can be problems with air getting in the jet is that the main reason? How would a jet do on a regular jon boat? and also can you run a prop motor on a tunnel.... would that run any shallower than a regular jon?

I ask all these question because Im getting mixed ideas on what to get.... I should just use my snowmobile and water skip!!! I can get ur on plan in about 3 inches of water!!! LOL

[hanson]

There are 2 types of tunnel hull jonboats, those made for props and those for jets. The prop tunnels are much deeper. A jet tunnel is fairly shallow, maybe 2-3" deep at best. Jet tunnel's job is to get the leading edge of the jet foot up above the bottom surface of the boat. You won't want to run an OB Jet on a jonboat with a prop tunnel. You can run an OB jet just fine on a regular jonboat.

Of the 3 combinations, I think you're going to get your best shallow water performance with a tunnel hull jon and OB jet. A regular hull jon with an OB jet is going to be right there with it as well.

[ec30_06]

I have not heard of good performance with ob jets and ob jet tunnels. The mass produced boats make a rectangular tunnel that causes a lot of cavitaion in turns or the slightest breeze. Also you lose a lot of floatation in the rear, so sponsons are usually added to make up for lost floatation and planing surface. I would stick to a flat bottom if running an ob jet. Prop tunnels raise up your motor about 8 inches which can save a lot of props.

[A.W.Wolfram]

River Pro...OB jets are sub par and a waste of HP.

[delcecchi]

bass and walleye boats has a comparison of all the 50 hp outboards in current issue